1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for stopping bottles, of the type having a neck with an outer annular rim, with the neck defining a longitudinal axis and an upper edge, the device being adapted to take on a mounted position on the neck and with the device comprising: [a] a main body, which comprises an annular portion, generally parallel to the upper edge in the mounted position, with the annular portion having an outer edge region and tabs which are attached to the outer edge region of the annular portion and which are provided with an inner surface, close to the neck in the mounted position, an outer surface, opposite to the inner surface, lateral surfaces and a lower surface, and [b] a sleeve member, with a hollow substantially cylindrical portion, with the substantially cylindrical portion being adapted to be placed over the tabs.
2. Background Art
Bottle stoppers are known which operate by means of a ferrule of metallic material. They are used for stopping all kinds of bottles or flasks which have a neck with an outer annular rim on the upper edge of the neck. The outer annular rim usually has the upper portion thereof flat and flush with the upper edge of the bottle and the lower portion thereof is joined to the outer side surface of the neck at an intermediate point thereof. The ferrule is a metal part which is usually provided with a flat annular portion, and a cylindrical portion attached to the flat annular portion at the outer end thereof and perpendicular to said flat annular portion. When the ferrule is mounted on the bottle or flask, the flat annular portion bears against the outer annular rim, or on a resilient ring, the purpose of which is to improve the tightness of the closure and which is placed, in this case, on the outer annular rim. The flat annular portion is, in any case, generally parallel to the upper end of the outer annular rim. The cylindrical portion, then, externally surrounds the outer annular rim. Thereafter, it is necessary to carry out an operation which tightens said cylindrical portion against the outer annular rim, deforming it and there by attaching the ferrule to the bottle.
This process has a number of drawbacks, one of which is the cost thereof, both for the materials used and for the operations required for stopping a bottle.
There are, likewise, devices for stopping bottles made from plastics material which comprise an annular portion which is to be mounted parallel to the upper edge of the neck, tabs which extend downwardly from the outer edge of the annular portion and a generally cylindrical sleeve member adapted to slide over the tabs. Each tab has a protuberance which is positioned just under the outer annular rim when the sleeve member is placed over the tabs.
Nevertheless there is an additional difficulty where glass bottles are concerned and it is that they suffer from very great variations of the geometrical measurements thereof (diameter and ovalness of the outer annular rim, diameter and ovalness of the neck, concentricity of the neck and the outer annular rim, width and height of the outer annular rim, the upper and lower surfaces of the outer annular rim being out of parallel, etc.), whereby there is required a device which, apart from being cheap, has to be capable of absorbing the variations in the bottle to be stopped at the same time, nevertheless, as it maintains the pressure exerted against the sealing ring or resilient element constant.
In the present description and claims, the term bottle has been used to designate any container having a neck with an outer annular rim.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for stopping bottles of the type first mentioned above, wherein each of the tabs is provided with two first protuberances, extending from the inner surface and which are adjacent the lateral surfaces and in that the outer surface is provided with a projecting portion so that said cylindrical portion (39) pushes said tabs (21) against said outer annular rim (9) through said projecting portion (43).
To be sure, a device of this type affords, on the one hand, the economic advantages of the plastics type devices having tabs and, on the other hand, affords geometrical improvements which allow it better to absorb the variations in the glass bottles it is wanted to stop.
On the one hand, each tab has two first protuberances on the inner surface thereof. Where it is desired to contact an irregular surface, it is always better to have a larger amount of points of contact with a small contact surface than a smaller amount of points of contact with a large contact surface. This is due to the fact that in the case of large surfaces, the contact is finally made on small areas of the large surface, with the rest of the large surface remaining in cantilever and, therefore, unused. If, with a view to avoiding this drawback, the large surface is designed in a soft material, so that it deforms and becomes adapted to the irregular surface, there is the risk that such contact subsequently may become loose. Therefore, the arrangement of two first protuberances, with small contact points, for each tab instead of one single first protuberance, with a larger point of contact, represents an improvement for adaptation to the variations present in the bottles to be stopped.
Each tab is provided, also, with a projecting portion on the opposite side, positioned between the two first protuberances. When the sleeve member is placed over the tabs, the sleeve member contacts these projecting portions on which it exerts a pressure causing the tabs to close around the outer annular rim. This geometry causes the tab to withstand a bending force, where the distance between the point of application of the force, that is, the apex of the projecting portion and the point of application of the reaction, that is the first protuberances is approximately equal to half the width of the tab, thereby generating a xe2x80x9cleaf spring effectxe2x80x9d in the transverse direction of the tab which is distributed over the entire length of the first protuberances and of the projecting portion. This way of working of the tab, with this xe2x80x9cleaf spring effectxe2x80x9d in the transverse direction of the tab is also novel. In this way a tension is obtained in the device around the entire outer perimeter of the outer annular rim exerting a more or less constant force on the upper edge of the neck, where a resilient seal improving the tightness of the closure is usually placed.
The projecting portion is preferably substantially centered between both lateral surfaces and may be a more or less fine partition wall projecting perpendicularly from outer surface of the tab, as will be described hereinafter, or it may be a swelling of the outer surface itself, or at least of a part thereof. This swelling forms a convex surface which, preferably, starts from an intermediate point of the outer surface and extends away from the outer edge region and from the longitudinal axis.
The swelling of the outer surface preferably corresponds to a recessed portion on the inner surface. The swelling is advantageously formed as a cylindrical surface or a conical surface. This geometry improves the bending behavior of the tab.
The projecting portion preferably extends to the lower surface of the tab.
Another preferred embodiment of the invention is obtained when the first protuberances are substantially walls of variable thickness, measured in an angular direction relative to the longitudinal axis, with a first base, a first upper edge, a first lower lateral end and a first upper lateral end, where the first protuberances extend from the lower surface to an intermediate point of the inner surface and where the thickness increases from a minimum value at the first lower lateral end to a maximum value at the first upper lateral end. It is particularly advantageous when the distance between the first base and the first upper edge is increasing, reaching a maximum value at a point close to the first lower lateral end.
An additional preferred embodiment is obtained when the projecting portion forms a second protuberance which projects from the outer surface and which is generally equidistant from both lateral surfaces.
A further preferred embodiment is obtained when the first protuberances are elongate walls, having the shape of an elongated triangle, which guarantees contact with the outer annular rim in a plurality of cases in which very disparate relative positions between both elements occur: outer annular rim farther from, closer to, higher than or lower than the ideal theoretical positions. The sloping wall of the triangle, which is longer than the variations foreseeable in the glass bottle, ensures that contact will be made between the outer annular rim and the first protuberances.
Advantageously, the first protuberances are deformed partially in the contact area with the outer annular rim, to ensure that contact is made with all the first protuberances along the outer perimeter of the outer annular rim and anchorage of the device on the bottle neck is ensured. Since these first protuberances have a relatively small deformation section, materials having a relatively high hardness may be selected for the protuberances (which materials will usually coincide with the materials of the entire main body), without this meaning that the force of assembly of the sleeve member on the tabs has to reach excessive values.
The second protuberance is preferably also an elongate wall, which improves the distribution of stress by the above mentioned xe2x80x9cleaf spring effectxe2x80x9d and the elongate wall is preferably triangular likewise. This allows the force applied on the first protuberances when the sleeve member is slid over the tabs during the assembly operation to be applied progressively, which causes the entire device to be centered on the outer annular rim during the assembly process.